2006 Dealer Survey Results

Two independents, BMW and H-D stores lead the pack

It’s
an interesting time in the Motorsports industry. Growth is slow
which means the customer base has been riding longer in general. And
with that we saw some of the most discerning dealer surveys in the
seven
year history of the exercise.

Overall averages were lower than in years past and low scores
were more prevalent, especially on big box metric stores. In 2004,
the average score on a scale of 1-100 was 70, this year it was 65.
We’d never expect to see a lot of 100 scores, or even 90s but what
this trend is showing is a decline in overall customer satisfaction.

Photo: From out of nowhere Teri & Vince
Palazo of
Vince's Motorcycle Store in Lacey scored five awards this year
including Top Dealer Overall.

Times are different now. Money isn’t rolling is from a thundering
stock market or a booming Northwest tech market. Today money is
harder to come by, people are working harder and longer to get it
and when they spend it it’s more important to them now then ever
before that they get their full value expected on a purchase,
service or parts and accessories.

And what’s most interesting this time around is how two
independents slipped into the top ranks and gave major brand dealers
a run for their money.

OVERALL

Dealer

Award

Score

Vince's Motorcycle Store

#1 Dealer - OVERALL (Independent)

90

Harley-Davidson of Seattle

#1 Dealer - OVERALL

84

South Sound BMW

Top 5 Dealer - Overall

83

Gervasi's Everett Motorsports

Top 5 Dealer - Overall

82

Destination Harley-Davidson/Buell (Tacoma)

Top 5 Dealer - Overall

74

Moto International

Top 5 Dealer - Overall

73

Skagit Powersports

Top 5 Dealer - Overall

73

Vince’s Motorcycle Store in Olympia stole the #1 position in the
overall category. A brief history of Vince’s. The store has been
around for several decades and operated out of a small cinder block
location on Pacific Highway. They used to sell Moto Guzzi, but lost
the franchise several years back. Eventually they moved to new digs
on Martin Way, added a few small brands and capitalized on their
reputation for great service.

Then
there’s Gervasi’s up in Everett. The shop started out as service
only business and garnered an SR! Top Independent Service award back
in 2004. At that time we knew they were planning to expand to a new
shop and bring on a major manufacturer line, but nobody would reveal
much more than that. Finally last fall they opened the new shop with
the Kawasaki name on the marquee. For the two year term the survey
covers, when they didn’t have the Kawasaki line, Gervasi’s is
considered an independent shop, but that won’t be the case two years
from now.

We’ve never seen this kind of competition in the rankings before
from small independent shops and don’t know if we will in years to
come. Vince’s and Gervasi’s are included in the awards categories
that they placed in as well as the top five major manufacturer
dealers for each category. This explains why when you read the final
rankings you’ll see seven and not five dealers in each one.

That’s not the only oddity of this year’s awards. Midway in 2005
Cycle Barn split into two moving their Lynnwood store a mile up the
road and leaving behind their Harley-Davidson franchise to fill the
old building. We were able to discern which CB customers were H-D
owners and thus re-classed those surveys as H-D of Seattle, rather
than Cycle Barn. The results were stunning. H-D of Seattle walked
away with awards in every category. We’ve known from years past that
Cycle Barn’s H-D customers never felt at home with all the metric
iron side-by-side and vice versa for their metric customers. The
split has been good all the way around and we expect Cycle Barn
Lynnwood’s satisfaction level to rise over the next term.

SALES

Dealer

Award

Score

Vince's Motorcycle Store

#1 Dealer - Sales (Independent)

85

Harley-Davidson of Seattle

#1 Dealer - Sales

83

South Sound BMW

Top 5 Dealer - Sales

77

Destination Harley-Davidson/Buell (Tacoma)

Top 5 Dealer - Sales

76

Moto International

Top 5 Dealer - Sales

74

Gervasi's Everett Motorsports

Top 5 Dealer - Sales

73

Lake City Powersports

Top 5 Dealer - Sales

73

Vince’s - the little store with big results. Vince’s stocks a
number off small off shore brands. They’ve chosen manufacturers like
United Motors, who provide good warranty support which translates to
a happy customer.

Over
the last two year’s Harley-Davidson of Seattle has seen a lot of
change. Sales manager, Scott McMillan left the dealership in early
2005 and later that spring several top sales staff resigned or were
let go during a restructure. The challenge will be for H-D of
Seattle to maintain their customer base and keep it happy following
the installation of a new sales team and management structure which
is underway now.

Destination Harley-Davidson once again scored in this category. A
lot has changed for the dealer from two years ago. Ed Wallace, Sr.
who held a strong place with many of his customers has now retired,
turning the reins of the business over to his son, Ed Jr. Top sales
earners Stu Ness and David Yeoman have left and begun their own
enterprise down the street. But the dealership was up for the
challenge and the numbers show they’ve managed to maintain a high
level of customer satisfaction.

South Sound BMW, Washington’s newest BMW dealership had quite a
challenge ahead when they secured the old Tacoma BMW franchise
several years ago. Build a clientele and operate the largest single
line BMW motorcycle dealership in the world. The work is paying off
as the sales staff scored well with their customers.

Photo: Great deals, top notch service,
parts & accessories support aided Moto International in scoring no
less than six awards for 2006.

Gervasi’s places here because they carried the Kymco scooter
brand during the term of the survey.

If you watch the industry newslines you’d know that things haven’t
been that rosy in the Italian motorcycle world. But Moto
International’s Dave Richardson and crew took advantage by
purchasing a number of new units at auction over the last few years
making new bikes available to customers at great prices.

Some people just like the small store feeling. Tom Lambert's
and John Heale's longevity within the Lake City Powersports structure
has gained and retained many customers for the Seattle dealership
over the years.

PARTS, ACCESSORIES & APPAREL

Dealer

Award

Score

Vince's Motorcycle Store

#1 Dealer - Parts (Independent)

92

Gervasi's Everett Motorsports

Top 5 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

84

Harley-Davidson of Seattle

#1 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

82

South Sound BMW

Top 5 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

80

University Honda/Yamaha

Top 5 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

75

Destination Harley-Davidson/Buell (Tacoma)

Top 5 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

73

Moto International

Top 5 Dealer - Parts, Accessories & Apparel

73

For Vince’s and Gervasi’s the challenge has always been to
provide parts and accessories in addition to their service.
Gervasi’s in particular has built an inventory of parts for the
major Japanese manufacturers and Harley-Davidson, even though they
only provide service on those brands.

Although Harley-Davidson of Seattle shared store space with Cycle
Barn, several years ago they separated their parts department from
the metric half and have since then had dedicated staff who only
handle H-D parts, accessories and apparel.

What’s
unique about South Sound BMW’s parts, accessories and apparel is the
diversity. It’s not all gaskets, helmets and oil, but SS BMW has
ventured into carrying some outdoor gear such as tents and has an
expanded selection of Touratech product. Everything for the touring
rider all in one place.

Sarah Boersema returns to University Honda/Yamaha/MZ and brings
with her the same customer service ethic as her husband Mike, who
formerly ran the Capitol Hill shop’s parts department. Oh – okay –
she taught him everything anyway. University is more than happy to
accept orders over the phone, do prompt dealer locator searches for
hard-to-find parts and is prompt to call back when special orders
arrive.

Photo: Tom Wicken, owner of University
Honda/Yamaha/MZ and his sister, Sarah picked up a Top 5 Parts &
Accessories award - just like they did in 2004.

The interesting difference between our other two winners, Moto
International and Destination Harley-Davidson is that one is a big
box store, while the other is a small shop. But both maintain a
staff of knowledgeable people who are well versed in what they sell.
That’s an asset you can’t win this award without.

SERVICE

Dealer

Award

Score

Vince's Motorcycle Store

#1 Dealer - Service (Independent)

97

Harley-Davidson of Seattle

#1 Dealer - Service

91

Gervasi's Everett Motorsports

Top 5 Dealer - Service

88

Waldron Kawasaki/Arctic Cat

Top 5 Dealer - Service

85

Moto International

Top 5 Dealer - Service

78

South Sound BMW

Top 5 Dealer - Service

76

Northwest Harley-Davidson

Top 5 Dealer - Service

75

It could be repeated that one important thing to note about both
Gervasi’s and Vince’s is that they both built and expanded their
businesses based on providing good service. Since both owners are
techs themselves, it’s not something you’re going to see get left
behind at either location.

Harley-Davidson
of Seattle has always maintained a staff of H-D-specifically-trained
techs and now we see that they are well regarded by their customer
base.

When South Sound BMW built their store into what was a concrete
box left behind by a United Furniture warehouse, they went state of
the art with design, making it a great place for techs to work and
customers to have their bikes serviced.

Micha at Moto International scores well with his customers, but if
the other techs on staff didn’t perform as well we’d hear about it in
the surveys. These awards don’t come down to one person alone.

New entries to the category this year are Northwest
Harley-Davidson and Waldron Kawasaki. Waldron has traveled a long
road to transfer the customer satisfaction they’ve provided their
snowmobile customers over the decades. When they added the Kawasaki
line to their shop back in 2003, you knew it would only be a matter
of time before we’d see them come above radar in this category.

Photo: From service winner in 2004 to
winning five
awards in 2006 Kevin Guernsey and Rick Gervasi of Gervasi's Everett
Powersports are poised for success as they embark
on their journey as a major OEM delaer.

STORE LOOK AND FEEL

Dealer

Award

Score

South Sound BMW

#1 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

98

Skagit Powersports

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

87

Vince's Motorcycle Store

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

86

Downtown Harley-Davidson/Buell

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

83

Gervasi's Everett Motorsports

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

83

Ducati Seattle

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

82

Hinshaw's Motorcycle Store

Top 5 Dealer - Store Look & Feel

80

This year’s first place winner is South Sound BMW. If you haven’t
checked out the store, stop by the next time you ride through Fife –
even if you don’t ride a BMW. A comfortable atmosphere with wall to
wall carpet, a fireplace and always some coffee on the brew. The
design aspects are as modern as it gets without coming off
‘sterile.’ It’s also fun to view the images and actual vintage bikes
scattered about the store. This explains why the store captured 1st
place in the 2005 Powersports Dealer News Survey as well.

This
category sees the entry of Skagit Powersports, their first ever
Dealer Survey Award. It’s not easy getting six lines of bikes into
one store and showcasing them all, but Skagit manages to do it day
in and day out. Skagit has also become more active with getting new
customers up to see their digs, such as when they participated in
last years Old 99 poker run.

Downtown Harley-Davidson showed up again in this category. It
will be interesting to see what happens if the rumored sale and move
of the franchise go through this spring.

Photo: Having built the largest BMW
dealership in the world, Keith & Anne Thye and Brendan Ferrer of South Sound BMW pick up five awards in the
2006 Dealer Survey.

Ducati Seattle scored in the category again as well. Ducati
owners tend to like style and the downtown Seattle store continues
to satisfy their tastes.

Finally – Hinshaw’s Motorcycle Store scored here this year. The
store, built several years ago across the street from their old
location, is well laid out, easy to park at, get around in and, best
of all, showcases many stunning restorations from owner Ron Orr’s
private collection.

BY MANUFACTURER

Dealer

Award

Moto International

#1 Dealer - Aprilia

South Sound BMW

#1 Dealer - BMW

Skagit Powersports

#1 Dealer - Ducati

Harley-Davidson of Seattle

#1 Dealer - Harley-Davidson

South Sound Honda

#1 Dealer - Honda

Skagit Powersports

#1 Dealer - Kawasaki

Moto International

#1 Dealer - Moto Guzzi

Skagit Powersports

#1 Dealer - Suzuki

I-90 Motorsports

#1 Dealer - Triumph

Skagit Powersports

#1 Dealer - Yamaha

Skagit Powersports

#1 Dealer - KTM

With Independents, BMW and H-D taking many of the top awards,
Skagit Powersports scooped up top OEM awards on every line they
carry leaving a number of big box metric stores empty-handed this
year.

Special thanks to all the readers who participated in this year's
survey and to Greg Maust who performed much of the meticulous number
crunching required to make this survey happen.

Photo:
Skagit Powersports enters as first-time winners in the Dealers
Survey and takes a record seven awards in doing so.

At the
bottom of the barrel was Cycle Mart in Lacey. The dealer has
since been purchased by Moto International so keep an eye on this
space come 2008.

Congratulations to all the winners and be sure to
check out the ones you haven't stopped into yet.

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